Labour-free Society: The Right to Laziness and New Motivation for Work

Abstract

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of the “end of labour” and the con­sideration of this problem in modern social thought. Anti-labour rhetoric, which originated in the 19th century, finds its development in the 20th century in the dis­course of refusal to work and the prospect of preserving human individuation in the conditions of a technical society. As a result of the comparison of approaches to the issue of liberation from labour, the authors of the article come to the conclu­sion that the proposed concepts in assessing labour and its role in the development of society are inconsistent, the untimeliness of abandoning work (as a fundamental type of activity) and work-centrism (as a way of life). Insisting on the need for li­beration from labour, supporters of the rejection of work ethics and work culture leave out of discussion the possible consequences of the transition to a labour-free society. The proposed projects lack convincing options for effectively replacing work activity in its high social position and a model of a new work ethic based on the comprehensive improvement of a person. The article attempts to contrast ideas about the creative evolution of labour activity in the works of Russian thinkers of the twentieth century (A. Bogdanov, A. Gastev) with the post-labour discussion (N. Srnicek, A. Williams, group “Crisis”). An alternative to the discussion about a society without labour at the turn of the 2020s is the question of a new labour paradigm, a revision of the motivation of work and the preservation of its social significance, a new work ethic and individual planning for the future (A. Hines, B. Stigler, O. Nesterov, A. Pisarev, etc.)